Spin Fishing For Trout – Drift Fishing Worms

As you are probably all aware, we at JRWfishing are all about spin fishing for trout and our "go to" technique is without a doubt drift fishing worms. In this post I will outline how we go about drift fishing with worms, so that you can add this amazingly effective trout fishing technique to your fishing repertoire. If you are already a drift fisherman, fear not, because you might very well find a morsel or two that you never considered before, that will help you out as well.

The first thing to be aware of when drift fishing worms is the type of water that you are fishing. Drift fishing is most effective in small to medium sized rivers, the kind of river or stream that can be waded across in places, but not in others and usually contains a combination of shallow riffles, runs, deep runs, and pools. Larger rivers, which are often fished with some manifestation of boat or drift boat, usually aren't the most conducive to this style of spin fishing.

Next we have the gear that is utilized, and when I say gear I'm referring specifically to your rod, reel, and fishing line. The best fishing rods for this type of fishing are ultralight power and I also prefer my rod to be fast "action" as well. Under normal water conditions I prefer a 5-6 foot spinning rod and when river flows are heavier I prefer a spining rod that is 6-7 feet long.

As far a your spinning reel goes, any ultralight reel that is manufactured by a quality manufacturer will work fine. I have been using Pfleuger Trion ultralight spinninhg reels for all of my drift fishing for more than 20 years and couldn't be happier. And now we have the fishing line that your reel is spooled with. The key here is that your line is as light as you feel comfortable with, but nothing heavier that six pound test. I suggest and have been using Original Stren in the clear/blue color that is 4 pound test for many years, but any quality fishing line will do just fine.

Now to where to position yourself within the river that you are fishing. It's a
good idea to approach the area that you intend to fish from downstream as mush as possible because trout will almost always be facing and thus looking upstream for a meal. This is important because if a trout sees you they are likely to become "spooked" and have no interest in anything that drifts by them. This fact is especially true with trout that are larger and more experienced.

You want to cast parallel to slightly upstream of the place that you are standing. When your worms hits the water, you want to close the bait of your reel and raise your rod tip to try to eliminate any slack from your line. As your worm begins to drift downstream you want to point yoiur rod tip at the worm to feel any bites that might come from hungry trout. I like to place my index finger from the hand that is holding the rod on my line to help to feel bites. Some people will hold their line between the fingers of their opposite hand to accomplish the same thing. Either way, "feeling" you line helps in detecting bites.

This process is repeated in all of the area's of the river or stream that trout can be found. Although the technique is extremely simply in theory, drift fishing with worms also has thousands of little nuances that reveal themselves to you seemingly every time you put the technique into practice. This all comes together to make the technique extremely enjoyable and productive in my opinion. As a matter of fact there is no better way to go spin fishing for trout in my opinion.